The Naked Truth (7 page)

Her heart kicked. She believed him. Together they would discover any evidence her memories held. But first, for a little while, she would allow her desire to lead the way, allow herself to believe it was only the two of them, that their combined worlds were not waiting on their discoveries.

He led her to the second door off his sitting room. As she had suspected, it led to his sleeping quarters, although they weren’t quite what she expected. After the spartan design of the sitting room and bath, she expected the same here. Instead she was greeted with lush red color on nearly every surface, from the dark red walls to the thick rug underneath her feet. The bed encompassed nearly half the room, its covers strangely shiny in their speckled red-and-black tones.

She took a step forward, but Asler held her arm and bent to speak softly into her ear.

“Inar tel sahan yowlenaii.”

She looked up at him. “What does that mean?”

“It means…welcome, and also that I hope you will stay a very long time.”

Asler’s L’inar crested down the length of his back, the sensation honing his anticipation. Susan’s beauty paled beside her bravery, her pureness of character. There was no way he could believe she would do anything to jeopardize the safety of her world. What they found now would be hard for her to bear—watching herself crumble under torture—but would surely validate her innocence. The trick would be in proving that to Starforce and the Confederacy.

His initial thought to gain Susan’s confidence, possibly through sex, for the purpose of revealing the truth wasn’t necessary. She had the courage to face what had happened without him, now that she knew the situation. But now he found that he wanted to earn her trust, wanted to support her through the difficult times ahead, and not just while they were in m’ittar. He would be there for her while she battled through the trial for her career, whatever the outcome.

Susan stared up at him, a look of wonder on her delicate face. His L’inar stiffened around his scalp and neck. Was she beginning to recognize what they might come to mean to each other? At this moment he could admit he didn’t want their time together, no matter how difficult, to end.

For the first time, he speculated about the commitment between Inarrii Agent Alinna Gaerrii and human Major David Brown. He’d been the one to explain to Brown about what it meant for an Inarrii to mate.

He stroked Susan’s cheek, then lifted his hand to run his fingers through her short hair. It reminded him of the early sunlight on his home world. So bright, so beautiful. He pulled her to him, circling her with his other arm, running his hand down her back. She sighed, relaxing into him as his fingers searched her skin for the L’inar lines he knew weren’t there. So soft and smooth, her skin felt erotically naked without the ridges of his kind. In Inarrii, females’ L’inar would rise like a man’s, although not as noticeably and their patterns were different. Some females’ L’inar were tightly woven around the sensual areas of their body and nearly invisible until they began to mate or reacted in fear of some sort.

Susan shuddered under his exploring touch, her nipples hardening against his skin, a reaction to pleasure that both races shared. Asler moved to celebrate the similarities just as he enjoyed the differences. Palming a breast, he brought his lips to hers and kissed her deeply. Gently, tangled in their embrace, he led her to the edge of the great bed.

“Make love to me, before we go back into the memory,” she whispered against his lips. She gripped his forearms. “In person, Asler, not in our minds.”

Internally he rejoiced. She feels it—feels the possibility of so much between us. There is time for this. I will make the time.

He levered her back onto the bed. Its sensors reacted to their combined weight, spreading the pressure across its surface, holding them gently as it warmed and began to vibrate gently beneath them.

“Whoa!” Susan laughed in his arms. “A vibrating bed. Why am I not surprised?”

Asler’s heart warmed to her laughter. She’d been through so much, and had so much yet to come, and still she could find an honest sense of joy. Along with courage, this was what the humans would bring to the Confederacy. Their Earth held many resources, but perhaps the people would be their most important asset.

“You are a joy, Ya’lenali.” He thought the words he wouldn’t say aloud: she was a joy; she was in his heart. He could feel it, but he must not say it. There was a tone to her emotion that tasted of desperation. Perhaps it was residual fear, but he could not add to the pressure she must already be experiencing by thrusting feelings upon her that she might not return.

“What?” Susan raised her eyebrows at him. “What did you say?”

Asler froze for a moment. Had he vocalized the thought? No. But she had heard him. He swallowed hard. Their m’ittar contact had been progressing very quickly. He hadn’t actually initiated it, or even been physically touching her in the instant he’d thought the words. True, they’d had an immediate physical attraction and intense contact since he had met her. Was it only four days ago? And two of those she had spent healing. But perhaps there were more similarities between human and Inarrii than had been expected.

Susan was staring at him now, seemingly disturbed by his odd reaction.

He moved to nuzzle her, rubbing his lips against her jaw and neck, nipping slightly at her skin. “Nothing. You taste so good. Let me taste all of you. I want to find out every parallel between us, every way our differences mesh. Tell me what you like.”

“No. No games, no talking, no thoughts. Just us touching. I need you.”

She tangled her fingers into his hair, drawing him to her for a kiss. Her other hand roamed his body, stroking his L’inar, and driving him insane with sensation. She lay beneath him yet took charge of his body as though he were a novice to the act of love. When she pulled her legs up to wrap about his waist and began to rock against him, he gave in to her driving force. She needed him, so she would have him, all of him.

Reaching down, he stroked her with his fingers and found her ready for him. He levered himself with one arm, holding her hips, and matched his rhythm to hers, slowly pressing into her. He rocked into her core with a steady beat that left both of them gasping. Still, she wouldn’t slow, despite the way her body responded to the sensation of his L’inar as they rubbed inside her.

Although she flooded him with sensation, he wondered at her urgency. As strongly as she reacted to him, her actions, like the tone of her emotional being, resonated with desperation. It was one he thought he understood. Soon they would know the truth, and perhaps it would be more than she could bear.

Asler’s heart ached, even as he groaned in pleasure.

She shuddered beneath him, and called his name. Her body clenched tight against him and he shut his eyes tight as he followed her into a deep well of pleasure. Drowning in it, he spilled inside her and whispered the words another Inarrii would take for the beginning of a sacred promise. Finally he opened his eyes to look at her again, to enjoy the sight of her naked in his bed. Instead he found them lying on the sandy shores of his home, her back pressed against its black sands.

“I love this place, your home,” Susan murmured to him, contentment rich in her mental voice.

Asler breathed deeply as he dealt with the shock this little human had served to him. Even the air scented of the red fogs of home. “How did you do it?” he demanded.

“Do what?”

“How did you begin m’ittar? How did you bring me to my own memories?”

Surprise flashed across her face. “I…I don’t know. I thought you did this, brought us here again.” She struggled beneath him, tried to push him away but he held close, letting his greater weight hold him in place.

“No. You did.” He looked around. “This is not where I brought you to before. It is nearby, but I can see my house from here, up on the hill.” He motioned with his chin, not releasing her.

She craned her neck, trying to see it, as well.

“You couldn’t have seen that before.”

“So you did it then, not me. How could I take us to a place I haven’t seen?” she demanded.

“Exactly. How could you?” Asler stared at her. Carefully, without severing the m’ittar contact, he raised mental shields between them to protect his most private thoughts and memories.

Her cheeks grew flushed under his scrutiny.

So beautiful, so complex. But does she have more m’ittar abilities than this? If she can manipulate my memories when I am a trained Examiner, can she influence my judgment?

Sue stared into Asler’s electric-green eyes. She’d seen it—a flash of doubt. Despite the warmth of his body pressed against hers, a cold finger of fear wormed its way through her guts. “What is it?”

“You brought us here…”

“So you say.” Her face flushed as the first currents of anger stirred her heart. What was he accusing her of? He had promised to help her find the truth, and now he was looking at her like a snake that could poison him with a single bite.

“What is a snake?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said I looked like I thought you were a snake,” he muttered as he eyed her. Uncertainty darkened his bright green eyes. He rolled off her.

She felt the loss of his weight and heat as though it were a part of her being pulled away with his movements.

“I didn’t say that…I thought it, though.” She sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. “What does this mean?” She looked away from him and flicked black sand from her calves.

“It means you have more m’ittar abilities than I ever imagined. Our research indicated humans were unlikely to have any true psychic abilities, but Major Brown has demonstrated the ability to achieve m’ittar to a basic extent.”

“So? I don’t understand. What is the problem?” She watched as he rose from the sand and paced. Her anger faded as she observed him. He had no body shyness; he seemed completely unaware that he flaunted his beautiful cock before her.

As the thought passed through her mind, he paused midstride and stared at her.

“I’m beautiful?” The corner of his mouth lifted.

Now she felt her face flush for a different reason. A true grin formed on his lips as she squirmed in embarrassment. Good God, this is ridiculous. What am I, thirteen?

He knelt before her. “Oh, no, you are a woman, full grown and beautiful. And complicated.” He took her hands in his. “From the first moment, you have amazed me. You resisted my m’ittar when we first met. Then as we touched, our physical attraction let me in to your mind. But still you are strong enough to push me out if you want to. Then, despite the fact that we were not in m’ittar, you heard my thoughts. Now you have taken us to a memory you should not even know I have, to a place you have never seen. And here, our contact is so open, we are exchanging thoughts that are not truly directed at each other.”

Stunned, she tried to follow what he was saying. He reached to stroke her face. “I am telling you, Susan, that you have all the beginnings of true m’ittar. That with training, you could be as strong in your mind contact as I am. You could, perhaps, be trained as an Examiner for your people.”

She looked away from him and drew a deep breath. Her thoughts raced. Was this even something that she wanted? The idea was too farfetched.

For a moment she watched the clear water lap against the black sands. Only the sound of the low waves and the light warm breeze reached her ears.

Finally she spoke. “My people believe that I might be a traitor. Even if I can prove that isn’t true, they will never accept me with some sort of super powers.”

“Let us deal with one problem at a time. We must find the truth, both for your trial and in hopes that it will give us some clue about the terrorists and defense against the Ravagers.”

“I want to start now, Asler. I shouldn’t have put it off, asking for time with you like this.” Sue stood, but as she began to brush the sand from the back of her thighs, Asler stopped her.

“Like this, Susan.” He slowly visualized pettan and the top from his pet-horin to cover her lightly.

“Thanks.” Suddenly she felt so tired. She’d only slept for a short nap since arriving on the ship. But there was no way she was going to put it off any longer. The memories needed to be explored. The Treaty could not be held up, certainly not if she could help it.

“We will begin in the morning. I can feel how exhausted you are. I cannot cause you harm, and I know how hard this is going to be.” Asler raised his hand to stop her before she interrupted him. “Tonight we will test the theory. In the morning we will begin the work. You did not stop the inquiry.” He moved in and wrapped his arms about her, drawing her close to his chest. “Our contact, our sex, it will all play a part in the level of m’ittar we can achieve. The deeper the level, the more likely we are to succeed in the m’ittar densah, the external memory.” As he finished speaking an odd sensation slid through her, and she realized they had stepped from his memory back into the red décor of his private chambers.

Sue pressed her face into the smooth skin of his chest, scenting the purely masculine aroma that was his alone. Her heart ached. She was tired and lonely, even in his arms. Did he mean that he was glad they had sex purely because it would help his work? That it would aid the Treaty? Did he have any of the feelings she could feel forming in her heart? She quickly pushed the thought away. If they really were picking up random thoughts from each other, she didn’t want him to know how vulnerable she was around him. Let him think it was only sex, since the Inarrii seemed to focus on the act as much as the emotion.

He looked into her eyes with an expression she couldn’t decipher. “Let’s begin.”

Asler took Susan’s hands. He could feel the tension in her, anxiety over witnessing her own past, her own pain—but not fear. Somehow, somewhere, she had come to trust him. His heart warmed to the thought. But he too, trusted her. Despite the fact that she had unknown m’ittar, he had no trepidation about what they would do. Instead, he felt elated. Tonight, in her exhausted state they would only test the m’ittar densah, but tomorrow they would explore her memories together, and perhaps, help both their worlds.

“Step back with me, Ya’lenali, step back into your memory, watch your past become unveiled. Watch with me as all is revealed. See all that moved, hear all that was spoken, scent each aroma, and taste even the air.” As Asler spoke the ritual, he slid Susan back into deep m’ittar, past the point they had so far experienced and into a place where he could change the form of her memory. Slowly he pulled her psyche from the memories, shifting her perception of the past until she merely watched, rather than experienced, each moment of her time on the terrorist ship.

“Everything is black,” Susan whispered.

“Step forward with me, and see, Susan Branscombe.” Asler spoke into her mind.

Together they moved forward into the memory. The darkness took on a dim light, and the air grew rancid. In the shadows they could see a body collapsed flat on the floor.

Susan let go of his hand and stepped closer.

“That’s me.” Her mental voice shook slightly, but the m’ittar densah contact held.

Asler released the breath he had been holding as he realized he had still maintained an unconscious fear that she would reject the process and use her untrained power to throw them both from the memory before anything at all could be revealed. They would have tried again, but each unsuccessful try would mean less possibility of success.

“It is you, as you were when you were first captured. What do you see?” Asler prompted. Much of what could be gleaned from these memories would have to come from her as she understood more of the context. The terrorists were human, and she was human. Their ship would be more familiar, their languages and their technology. Asler would watch for anything he recognized. Anything that registered with him as familiar would be significant, as it would prove an alien influence.

Together they would find something.

“I see some blood, a minor head wound. It’s too dark, I can’t see any evidence of being drugged.” She stepped closer, stared down at herself.

“What about the room?” He distracted her, not expecting anything from the redirection. Asler knew from experience that she should not look too closely at her own injuries.

She peered into the shadows. “No, there’s nothing…” Her voice faded away as the sound of footsteps approached. She jumped back to grab at him as the door slammed open. The body on the ground groaned and shuddered slightly as two large men entered the cell.

“She’s coming around.” The harsh voice spoke in standard English, but Asler noted something different about its accent. The man didn’t sound like any of the humans he had been exposed to thus far.

“Good enough. Let’s take her down to Gerish. The sooner he finds out the location, the sooner we’ll end this thing. There’s no way we’re gonna let some creepy-crawly alien bastard take over our planet. We’ve got to stop ’em now.” He reached down to haul the semi-conscious Susan from the floor. She struggled in his arms, managing to elbow him solidly in the solar plexus. In return he backhanded her in the face.

In the shadows, the psychic form of Susan touched her face where her body had been struck.

“Why do they sound different?” Asler caught her hand and held it. They watched the two men drag Susan’s body out into the hall, eventually following them into the ship’s corridors. Asler scanned the walls closely, but found no markings of any kind.

“They’re from the Soviets, I think. You hear an accent, a tinge of their local dialect.” Distracted, Susan said, “They sound guttural because of it. Look at that.” She pointed to the doorway the men had just entered. Writing painted on the gray walls in red indicated dangerous materials inside, but the warning had been marked over with an X. “That’s Starforce standard code.” Susan scanned the walls more closely. “Some of this ship has been salvaged from Starforce.” Thoughtfully, she pursed her lips. “I don’t think this ship was engineered for a particular group. I think it’s a junker—a ship forged from scavenged materials by those who can’t afford to build new.”

They stepped into the room, observing Susan’s body being unceremoniously dumped in a chair. Then the two captors stood aside, waiting for a new man to enter. Tall and whipcord thin, the new man stalked to Susan and grabbed her chin.

“She is not fully conscious.” He let her head drop. “I need her to be awake to answer questions, idiots.” He drew back a hand and brought it down hard against Susan’s face in a stinging slap.

Her moan of anguish was duplicated as her psyche, watching from the doorway, moaned, as well.

“That’s enough,” Asler said. “Step back into the present, Susan. That’s enough.”

He held her as they returned to his room, held her as she sobbed in his arms. “That’s the man. That’s the man who tortured me.”

“I know. But we did it, Ya’lenali. We watched a memory and learned something.” He waited until the sobs slowly subsided.

“Yes…”

She fell silent.

Asler tipped her head up gently to look at her, and it was only then that he realized that she had succumbed to exhaustion.

Sue opened her eyes. The room was bathed in a deep red glow. As she slowly became more awake, she realized she lay in Asler’s bed. Curiously, the lightweight coverlet seemed to be exuding the light, along with mild warmth. Far more interestingly, the naked skin of the man beside her radiated a deep heat that begged for touch. She stared openly at him, the man who had taken over most of her life. He dominated her every waking moment, had taken over her past and, she suspected, would play a key role in her future.

She had never met anyone quite like him. He was determined to find the truth, insistent in his duty, but still remained kind—even mentally giving her clothing when she felt her most insecure at facing the memories of her torture. He was highly sensual, yet his physique and his bearing hinted at being familiar with hard work.

Sue lifted her fingers to touch his long blond hair. The reddish hue of his L’inar markings as they wound along his neck and shoulders reminded her of old photos she’d seen of tribal tattoos. As she watched they rippled, rising slightly then lowering flat against his skin once again. No, he certainly was not like anyone she had ever met in her life. He wasn’t human.

And, she realized, she didn’t care. She had already come to care for the man. In only a matter of days she had gone from caring more about her career than her life to caring more about a man than her career.

Hell. I will do my duty, I will find out the truth and protect the Treaty. But when that is over…

She watched his L’inar lines ripple again.

When that is over I will learn everything about m’ittar. Earth won’t want me, not if I can’t prove without a doubt that I am innocent, and even then my career will likely be over. But maybe I can still help. Maybe I can be an Examiner or an ambassador. Maybe I can work with Asler, stay with him.

She shivered as the ideas and feelings flowed through her—amazement, excitement, yearning, desire. She’d never even thought about this kind of a future, and she bit her lip as she wondered if any of it would even be possible.

Asler slept on, his heavy chest rising and falling beside her. She nudged him slightly. Nothing, no response came from his muscular frame, not even as she poked him a little harder. A sound sleeper.

Taking advantage of the moment, Sue pulled back the light coverlet. Leaning up on her elbows she stared at Asler’s thick muscles and patterned skin. His L’inar stirred, the ridges undulating slightly. Without volition her fingers rose to trace them lightly. The crests lifted, firming slightly to her touch, although not rising to their full height. She couldn’t help it, couldn’t resist lowering her lips to kiss the line covering his hip with a sinuous curve.

Would a kiss be enough to tell an Inarrii she wanted him for more than a fling? Was there such a thing as bunkmates, or was it an all-or-nothing marriage deal? She licked her lips, glancing up at his face. Still asleep. Delicately she ran her tongue over the curving line of skin. Licking the L’inar, she delighted in the way it reacted and rose.

She kissed the ridge again. After only a few inches it broke into several lines, some stretching across the lowest part of his abdomen, some curving back toward his back and buttocks. Some of the lines beckoned as they traced a dancing path toward his most private areas.

I can’t do this. To him, this could be like a marriage proposal, and I don’t even know how he feels.

Sue groaned and rolled onto her back.

“Don’t stop, Ya’lenali.”

Sue glanced over to meet Asler’s bright green eyes. “What do you keep calling me?” Her voice sounded low and husky to her ears.

He rolled onto his side and reached for her, stroked lazy fingers down her arm. “What does your heart tell you it means?”

“Something…something special.”

“Yes,” he breathed. He touched her jaw line, cradled her face in one large hand. His mouth opened and Sue knew, absolutely knew with a pulse of excitement that raced the length of her spine and zeroed in on her heart, that whatever he was about to say would change her life forever.

A low chime invaded the moment. Neither of them moved, but she saw his eyes flicker.

“What is it?” Sue turned from him and mentally shook herself. Thank God for the interruption. What had she been thinking? What had she done? She hoped like hell he had been too asleep to sense completely how she had tasted his L’inar. Hoped too that she had not gone far enough to make any promises. Her future was too cloudy to know what she could offer.

Asler looked troubled, his brows drawing together. “There is someone who wishes to see us.”

Sue drew up the coverlet. She still wore the pettan and pet-horin top, but felt exposed. Pull it together, Branscombe. You’ve been in the forces long enough not to freak over a run-in with some brass. A part of her began to sweat. For the first time she thought of how things would look to a Starforce observer. She was fraternizing with the very person meant to evaluate her innocence. How would that look to anyone? Whoever is here to see Asler will know I’ve been in his bed. Hell, his commander already knows. What would my base commander think if he saw us like this? The thought of the man she’d come to consider like a father and just what he would say if he saw her made her blood run cold. Good God.

She flipped off the cover and bounced out of the bed, moving to the bedroom wall. “Are they in the office?” She flushed as she realized her voice had squeaked as she spoke.

“No, they are in the hall…”

Sue didn’t wait for Asler to finish the sentence, let alone rise from the bed. She was out the bedroom door and across the office to the lavatory before the chime sounded again. She waved her hand across the wall after she shut herself into the room. As Asler had shown her, the wall’s surface morphed to show her a visual of herself. Damn, I look like I went a round with a boxer and then slept with him. An unnoticed bruise had formed on her cheek, likely resulting from some action she’d performed while fighting the fire in the dining room. Her tousled hair seemed to scream out the fact that she’d been flat on her back in Asler’s bed. Her cheeks were flushed.

Quickly she pawed through the storage shelves looking for a brush. Nothing. How the hell does he comb that long hair of his? What the hell is all this stuff? Nothing seemed familiar. In frustration she jammed her fingers through her short blond locks.

Sue listened hard, but she couldn’t hear anything happening in the office. She bit her lip. Might as well face whoever it is out there.

She palmed the door open and peeked out into the office.

Oh shit.

Asler shrugged into the heavy chammiss robes under the affronted glare of the human base commander John Davies. Obviously a pettan was not enough for the man, and Asler mentally congratulated the anthropological findings of the first team sent to observe the humans. They’d been right about the clothing.

“Stay calm, Kiis.” Asler’s commander Jannii Finar gently reminded him. “Commander Davies is very worried about Captain Branscombe.” Jannii stood to one side, his calm appearance in direct contrast to Davies’s outraged one.

“Just what is going on here? Where is my captain?”

Asler spied the lavatory door crack open. When Susan didn’t immediately step out, he realized she might be dreading any confrontation with a man she equalized to a father. “Captain Branscombe is, as I believe you put it, indisposed. I am certain she will be back in a moment.”

“She’d better be. I knew I was right to insist Admiral Jeffers get me in here.” Davies crossed his arms in front of his chest. His steel-gray eyes bore into Asler’s and seemed to imply that Asler could not take care of his girl.